As data traffic reaches unprecedented levels of volume and velocity, optimizing the wide area network (WAN) has become a necessity. Companies need more bandwidth, lower latency, and greater reliability to meet the demands of big data, proliferating endpoints, and advanced applications.
In the quest for WAN optimization, many organizations have turned to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). Global market intelligence company IDC predicted that the SD-WAN market will reach $5.25 billion by 2023.
Why are so many companies moving to SD-WAN?
SD-WAN has many benefits, including enhanced network performance, reliability, and security.
Here’s an overview of 4 reasons why SD-WAN is the right choice for networking:
1) Enhanced network security
When data travels through the network, it is vulnerable to being intercepted, stolen, or compromised. Information, users, and applications all need to be protected. Protecting and securing data in transit is particularly important as companies add more branch locations and encourage remote workers.
The right SD-WAN solution will protect all your company’s connections, whether on-premises or in the cloud. SD-WAN can provide a multi-layer security strategy for all business locations. The network can be segmented and protected with a firewall, guarding against internal and external threats by taking a zero-trust approach to network security.
2) Improved performance
Legacy networks can’t keep up with the performance demands of today’s software as a service (SaaS) applications. These traditional networks also struggle to handle network traffic that moves between branch locations, IoT devices, remote workers, and the company headquarters.
With SD-WAN, companies gain multiple internet exit points. These additional exit points add bandwidth to the network and enable companies to enhance user experience by avoiding bottlenecks. Network traffic can be controlled in real time according to policies the company sets.
3) Rapid deployment & network management
SD-WAN can be deployed according to an as-a-service model. Instead of Instead of configuring hardware and the laborious tasks associated with legacy networks, organizations can rapidly bring on new locations, make changes or apply policies to the entire SD-WAN network.
Even better is SD-WAN that is delivered as a service, where implementation and management is handled by the provider. Companies can scale easily and avoid capital expenses. The top SD-WAN solutions offer zero-touch deployment for a quick and risk-free process.
4) Network resiliency
A WAN must stay up and running at all times to deliver the user experience employees and customers expect. Today’s business continuity standards require that networks deliver at least 99.999% availability.
SD-WAN is a high-availability solution because of its redundant components and connections. Software empowers the solution to recover quickly from failures. Centralized monitoring and management provide visibility into the entire network. Network performance is monitored and measured to determine the best path for information and to generate information about any latency or data loss.
The Ideal SD-WAN Provider
Not every SD-WAN provider can deliver all these advantages. SD-WAN is only as good as the transport network that sits beneath it. A good SD-WAN provider can offer both the high performance of a fiber optic network for locations that need it with the right SD-WAN technology to make management of the network easier and more secure.
FirstLight has partnered with Cisco to provide SD-WAN solutions that offer all the advantages of an optimized WAN. We have created a portfolio of SD-WAN options to meet the needs of every business. Our SD-WAN solutions deliver:
- Support for as much as 10,000 locations
- Zero-touch installation
- Centralized management
- Security and segmentation
Of course, FirstLight SD-WAN operates at peak performance levels with the support of our high-speed fiber optic network that spans the Northeast.CTA
Discover the advantages that SD-WAN can bring to your business. Schedule an SD-WAN Demo with FirstLight and we will send you a $100 gift card as a thank you.
